Triptych
by Lady Eponine Black
Summary: The three Black sisters all have an idea where they're going, but a certain midnight conversation may be the spark each of them need. Well, we all have our turning points. Told in three oneshots, three different points of view, one for each sister.
1. Narcissa

Who was she? This girl-no, women staring at me with those heavily lidded violet eyes tinged with madness? Not my sister, that was for sure. In that moment, she was much of a stranger to me as Andromeda had become, pulled from us by her respect for those muggle-borns. Bellatrix smirked down at me, her wild beauty somehow contradicting with the cruelty in her eyes, and I felt the urge to look away, get away while I could.

"Narcissa…" she drawled, hissing out my name like a snake. "Why so silent? Shouldn't you be pleased? It is _such_ an honor." She gently caressed her left forearm, a gesture that almost made me gag. An honor. Is that what she thought? Truly, is that what she thought? She looked at me, expecting an answer. I gulped.

"I don't- I mean- how-how long?" I looked down, ashamed of my- what? I did not know. Bellatrix could do that, make you feel ashamed of anything, some small weakness of which you knew not.

"How long, Cissy? You really want to know?" did I? "Well then….since my first year. That was when he began training me."

"So long?" before I was in school, even. That's a strange thought. Now I knew where she had been all those empty nights.

"Does that _bother_ you, Cissy?" she smirks, and I silently shake my head. "And what about _you _dear sister? I'm sure Lucius would require a certain amount of…involvement from his wife in his chosen cause."

"If I am to become his wife, it will be because mother says so."

"Always the dutiful daughter, Narcissa." She leers, and I refrain from saying that she too, would wed the Lestrange boy-or any other from a 'respectable' pure blood family, if mother willed it.

" Making a good pure blood marriage is a first duty of a Black, Bellatrix. You know that."

" I _know_ that I know that. But that's not what I was asking now, was it. What about you, is what I said. Will you be joining the cause anytime soon?" she smirks at me like she already knew the answer.

"No, not me."

"Why ever not? Perhaps you are going the same way as _dear_ Andromeda…." She murmurs her name like a forbidden pleasure, and its with a shudder that I think of my other sister, asleep in her room, unaware of the multitude of secrets Bellatrix knew.

" You know I'm not. You know I'd never communicate with a-a mudblood, but I'd never join. If Lucius and I are to be wed, I will support him in whatever cause he joins. It if it is this, fine. But it is none of my business what he-or you does."

"You are such a good girl, Narcissa. Such a good, obedient girl." That should have been a compliment, would have been if coming from someone else, but it wasn't. Not from Bellatrix, who had never been 'a good, obedient daughter.', Who had defied my parents at every turn, But still, I knew that with her to, like with me loyalty toward the Blacks would take the precedent. Because that is the rule.

"I see, Narcissa. You will be a good society wife, but that's not what I want. I will not sit at home waiting for my husband. I will be out there-fighting for what I believe in." her voice is strong, her eyes bright. I believe her. She knows what she wants. She's not afraid to get it. And she is so confident, so powerful. I know that she will get what she wants. But I know that I will too. Like my sister, I know what I want. I know how to get it, and how to keep it, because it is what I have been working towards it my whole life. I will wed Lucius, and I know that I will grow to love him, and he will love me. If he chooses to serve the Dark Lord, then it is not my business, but I shall assist him in every way I can. We will have children, because it is our duty to carry on the line. One day, our child will go to Hogwarts, and doubtlessly follow his father in the cause. I know that my decision in that will not matter. I will be a good wife to him, a good mother to our child. He is rich, and so am I. doubtlessly, we shall live in a big house, with servants that obey my command, and much money at my disposal. I will be beautiful, powerful, with a family I love and a world that respects me. That is what I want. And I will get it, I must get it. That is the only way for me to rise, to be listened to, to be in command. Nothing can hold me back from my dream, not even Bellatrix, with her dark passions and powerful dark magic. I raise my chin at my sister, gracefully arching my eyebrows.

"I _shall_ be a good wife, Bellatrix." I hear coolness in my voice, unfamiliar. If I am to be the wife of such an important person, I shall learn to control my feelings, to be above reproach. Because everybody shall be watching us and that is the way I want it.

"I do not doubt it." She says. Her long fingers caress her arm, sighing with pleasure at the mark on her skin, a mark that ties her to him as strongly as her bloodrite ties her to us. She is his now, I think with a slight pang. "I do not doubt it." She repeats her gaze boring into me.

"You have no _reason_ to doubt it." I say, somewhat harshly. She does not answer, just nods absentmindedly. Her mind is not on me anymore, if it in fact ever was. She is at the window, gazing into the weak moonlight, her face illuminated, radiant with joy. She will go out this night, I am sure. To kill, spy torture, whatever it is He wants her to do. Andromeda will be out with that mudblood. And I will be there alone, as I always have been. I better get used to it. I think, as I silently leave my sister to her fantasy's. I shall always be alone. That is the way it must be. I roll back my shoulders and smooth my hair, take a deep breath. I am ready for whatever awaits me.


	2. Bellatrix

She stared up at me with wide blue eyes, and I felt the rush that came from someone else's fear. She was scared of me, I realized, and my lips curled into a smirk at the thought. Fear did not become her, a girl so intent on how others see her, on what she looked like. She looked weak in that moment, not like my sister at all, more like Andromeda. She and Andromeda were alike in that way, that weakness, that silly ability to love that most idiots set much store by, to be guided by childish wants and emotions. I would never be like that, I thought with a rush of pride. That could be your undoing, as is so easily learned. "Narcissa…" I say, my breath coming out a hiss. "Why so silent? Shouldn't you be pleased? It is an honor, such an honor." She looks disgusted, and I laugh low. She could never understand the true honor of it, the true fear it should evoke in her. She should know very well how much of an honor it is, she should learn to appreciate this greatest honor that my Lord has bestowed on me. My hands instinctively touch the Mark, and I sigh in pleasure, still high on pain, torture, and my Lord. Cissy looked shocked at me, though I could not see why. She cleared her throat, bowed her blond head. When she speaks, it is in a whisper, the fear and wonder poking through her cold papery voice.

"I don't-I mean,-how long?" I scoff at her, at the obvious question hanging in the air between us. She has the grace to look ashamed. "How _long, _Cissy, you really want to know?" she opens her mouth as if to speak, closes it again. She nods slightly, her eyes evading mine. "Well then..." I pause, watching her. "Since my first year. That was when he began training me." I see her flinch in shock and disgust; feel a burst of pleasure at the anxiety I'm causing her. "So long?" she whispers, her voice breaking slightly, although she does not realize. In the cold, harsh light of the moon, she looks thin and pale, determined. "Does that _bother_ you, Cissy?" and I can see the answer in her face, denied by the tilt of her head. "And what about you, dear sister? I'm sure Lucius would require a certain amount of….involvement from his wife in his chosen cause." I see her flinch, compose herself. She is so paper thin, it makes the anger rise inside me, the urge to kill. I fight it down. There will be time tonight. To indulge.

"If I am to become his...wife-" her voice hardens slightly on the word. "-it will be because mother says so."

"Always the dutiful daughter, Narcissa." I hiss, enjoying the fear and disgust in her face. She is so weak, so vile, I know she would marry whomever mother said, even if it was an old, disgusting man, she is so loyal to the family. She's always been the one who obeyed orders, who did as she was told. She'll never, ever, amount to anything that way. Not like me.

"Making a good pure blood marriage is a first duty of a Black, Bellatrix. You know that." She says softly, a trace of pride in her voice. The first duty? No, that is what they all say, but they are wrong, every one of them. It is our duty to cleanse the world of muggle filth, to uphold the family name while obliterating the weak thieves of magic who threaten to expose us, to dilute our pure, unravenged, blood. Only we, the noble purebloods, can triumph, because we have pure blood, and we alone are powerful, clever. But better to agree with her now, after all, it is what they have been drumming into our heads-that marriage is the most important, the highest duty, as is carrying on the line. Well, I'll show them.

" I _know_ that I know that. But that's not what I was asking now, was it. What about you, is what I said. Will you be joining the cause anytime soon?" of course she won't, she is too weak, to puny. Her eyes steel, and she shakes her head, blond hair whispering around her collarbone.

"No, not me." She says blandly, without any emotion.

"Why ever not? Perhaps you are going the same way as _dear_ Andromeda…." That is the ultimate insult, to compare her with our muggle loving sister who soon would, I am sure, be no longer be a part of our family. Why should we provide for one who sympathizes with those that taint our blood? No, Andromeda was doomed in her weakness, her idiocy. There would be no place for such as her in the world my Lord would create. She was my sister, yes, but she was weak, as unworthy in our eyes as that Sirius. Whatever ties we had with her must be broken, she must be exterminated. Feelings didn't count in the House of Black, we learned that young. Whatever we felt about it didn't matter. Cissy flinched at the name of our vagabond sister, and glances to the door of the bedroom where she lay, oblivious, asleep. Oh, she'll get it someday.

"You know I'm not. You know I'd never communicate with a-a mudblood, but I'd never join. If Lucius and I are to be wed, I will support him in whatever cause he joins. It if it is this, fine. But it is none of my business what he-or you does." Her voice trembles a little, but is harsh, and her eyes flicker onto mine, latching on for a second before speeding away again.

"You are such a good girl, Narcissa. Such a good, obedient girl." The words drop from my lips like cherry stones, and her eyes widen, aware that this is no compliment. She is obedient, a puppet, so unlike me. A laugh escapes my throat at the thought of her wedding the Malfoy boy. a marionette, walking up the aisle. If that is what she truly wants, then she is silly. Doubtlessly she will be a good wife-obedience such as hers is prized in the Malfoy home. I suspect she shall be good at it, yes, but it is not for me. Why would I sit uselessly at home when there is a man such as my Lord who needs me, a cause as worthy as that that I can serve? Why let the world fall I to disarray and not help it? No, the place for me is by my masters side, with him always, forever in his glory.

"I see, Narcissa. You will be a good society wife, but that's not what I want. I will not sit at home waiting for my husband. I will be out there-fighting for what I believe in."

"I shall be a good wife, Bellatrix." She says, and her voice is cool, impassive. It's a tone I've never heard from her before, and it surprises me. Maybe, just maybe, her path is the right one….for her, perhaps. She is not suited to anything better. But for me….

"I do not doubt it." I say, and I smile with the pleasure of the mark on my skin, the sign that I am his, forever his. My duty is to him now, and I do not regret it. "I do not doubt it." I say again, laughing, but I do not mean her. I mean my Lord. I do not doubt that he will triumph, and Cissy and Andy will not matter in the glory of a world where my master rules. I turn to the window, gazing out at the sky, as black as my family crest, the crest that he will make anew for the new era he will bring. When I turn again she is gone. It doesn't matter; she is but one more weakling in this broken world. I sigh, roll back my arms, feeling the burn of my loyalty, the tie that binds me to this cause, this Lord. Someday, I shall be by his side, killing for him, torturing for him, for him I shall be his most loyal, his best, and his most powerful. I shall be the one everybody is watching, who everybody wants to be. I must be better than the best, because everybody will be looking at me. And that is the way I want it. I roll back my shoulders, take a breath. . I am ready for whatever awaits me.


	3. Andromeda

I hear her enter the hallway, her boots making soft taps on the cold marble floor. I hear the swish of her cloak as she hangs it up on the hook, her sigh as she opens the window. Narcissa stirs in the bed beside me, her golden pale hair spread out on the white satin pillow. She looks like an angel, cool and papery and insubstantial. I turn my back to her as she opens her eyes, but I can hear the creak of the bed, the patter of her footsteps as she leaves the room. Her voice rolls softly into my ears, cold, dripping with scorn. Bellatrix, returned at last from her swearing-in ceremony. I go o the door and murmur a spell. I see them then, standing by the window. I see the fear in Cissy eyes as she begins to grasp what I've always known, the cold, cruel humor in Bella's face as she comprehends our sisters fear. It's a perfect moment, icy and raw, and the moonlight shines on Bella's curls and Cissys long thick locks.

"Narcissa…" I hear Bellatrix snarl, her voice slithering through the room, scaly and slinky as a serpent ready to bite, as his serpent. "Why so silent? Shouldn't you be pleased? It is _such_ an honor." Her smile doesn't reach her eyes, though, and Narcissa flinches back in disgust and horror. They continue talking in low voices, and I turn away, suddenly uninterested. What do they matter, in the long run? Just two girls with hearts as diamond cold as the cloudy night sky, minds as twisted as a ruined secret. They won't matter. I hear my name, dripping with scorn, whispered like a secret, a shameful pleasure, and I turn back around.

"…._dear_ Andromeda." She says, but she says it like an insult, a hissed dirty word murmured to an awe-filled audience under the kitchen table. That's what I am now, the dirty word of the blacks. _Andromeda. Sirius. _

"You know I'm not. You know I'd never communicate with a-a mudblood, but I'd never join. If Lucius and I are to be wed, I will support him in whatever cause he joins. It if it is this, fine. But it is none of my business what he-or you does." Narcissas voice is sharp, angry. She's just as bad as Bellatrix, with her 'mudblood' and horrible slighting of those that aren't like us. But I can't blame her for it. It's what we're taught, the lesson drummed into us in childhood, reinforced in our school years. It's who we are taught to be, what we are expected to be. They expected us to hate mudbloods, scorn those who were different then us. The taught us to hate, to judge, to see the world as they did, through a kaleidoscope that twisted the facts and morphed what was right and what was wrong. The other two, they did it naturally, it was part of who they are. Not me, though. I'm not like them. Not truly a Black, the family name that is so important to them, that they work so hard to uphold, and keep 'pure'.

"You are such a good girl, Narcissa. Such a good, obedient girl." She smirks, and Cissys pale skin flushes pink, because even she's smart enough to realize that that's no compliment. Not form Bellatrix, whose never been a good, obedient daughter. Oh yes, she's loyal to our family, but we all know that her first loyalty is from the Dark Lord, her first love is to him, her heart given to those hooded demons.

"I see, Narcissa. You will be a good society wife, but that's not what I want. I will not sit at home waiting for my husband. I will be out there-fighting for what I believe in." her eyes glow, and her voice is strong. She's right, that's who she is. Not like Cissy. But maybe like me. I to, will fight for what I believe in, carry out the duties my heart tells me to do. Because we all follow our hearts. Even Bellatrix. We are Blacks, it is what we do, no matter how hard we pretend otherwise. And if I have to fight against my sister, then fine. So be it. She is no longer a part of me. When I leave, I will cut all ties. As a Black, you learn that what you feel doesn't matter, that you must put aside pain and grief and horror. Then fine, so be it. They are no longer a part of me, of my future, of my heart. That's the way it has to be. I hear Narcissa leave, Bellatrix turn back to the window. I turn and sit on the bed, my thoughts spinning. I am strong, but can I leave my family? Can I truly cut all ties with my sisters, twisted as they are? I can. I stand up and roll back my shoulders, take a deep breath. I am ready for whatever awaits me.


End file.
